The Latest News from TPA

City of Tulare Receives $7 Million Grant for Highway Interchange Project

Townsend Public Affairs worked with the City of Tulare to receive $7 million from Proposition 1B for improvements to the Cartmill Avenue Interchange on State Route 99. The proposed project would modify the existing interchange to provide the necessary capacity for future traffic volumes, address safety and design concerns with the current interchange and would facilitate the future development of the entire Cartmill Avenue regional corridor. The project will dramatically improve the safety and capacity of this interchange, which serves a major agricultural and industrial hub in the Central Valley. This allocation provides the final piece of funding for the project, allowing for construction to begin almost immediately.

While Townsend Public Affairs and City staff pursued various State and competitive federal grants for the project, ultimately funding was realized through savings in the Proposition 1B program from the California Transportation Commission.

City of Hayward Wins $396,000 Highway Safety Grant

The City of Hayward, a long time client was recently awarded $396,000 from the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) to address safety concerns for pedestrians and motorists at city two intersections. Townsend Public Affairs, City staff and a consortium of city residents collaborated to identify ways to address the safety concerns and design cost-effective solutions that could be implemented through the grant funds. The end result were strategically placed traffic signals and pedestrian signals that draw motorists attention to the intersections.

Townsend Public Affairs provided technical review and expertise on the grant application ensuring the safety needs were well documented and the solutions identified would address the problems. In addition, TPA worked with the City’s legislative delegation to gain their support and advocacy for the grant application.

The City of Hayward did a fantastic job involving residents in viable solutions to improve motorist and pedestrian safety in the neighborhoods. Congratulations to the City of Hayward!

Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County Wins $262,000 Landscaping Grant

Townsend Public Affairs is proud to announce our client, The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County, recent funding achievement from the California Natural Resources Agency in the amount of $262,155 from the Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Grant Program. These much needed funds will help purchase native trees and landscaping at the Octagon Barn Center that will mitigate significant air quality, noise, and traffic congestion from the major transportation improvements nearby.

Townsend Public Affairs is greatly appreciate of the outstanding work by the staff of the Conservancy, as well as the leadership and support from Assembly Member Katcho Achadjian and Senator Bill Monning. TPA assisted in writing the grant application, working with the Natural Resources Agency staff, and advocating with legislative leadership in support of the project.

The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County works cooperatively with both landowners and government agencies to restore wildlife habitat, protect cultural resources, and promote outdoor recreation. Since 1984, they have permanently conserved over 14,700 acres of land in San Luis Obispo County.

Congratulations Land Conservancy!

City of Emeryville Provides Critical Testimony for Community Schools

Townsend Public Affairs (TPA) participated in the Senate Education Committee’s Informational Hearing on Community Schools. Senator Carol Liu, Chair of the Committee, hosted a tour across the State focused on community school projects that came to an end with the Senate informational hearing in hope of finding policy changes that alleviate hurdles to developing these types of projects. Senator Liu invited longtime TPA client, the Emery Unified School District to speak at the hearing to discuss their full service community school project in partnership with another TPA client, the City of Emeryville.

The City of Emeryville has been a client of TPA’s for nearly seven years and lies on the east shore of San Francisco Bay between Oakland and Berkeley, directly opposite the Golden Gate and San Francisco. The city is small, just over one square mile, but its strategic location in the center of the Bay Area urban core at the confluence of several major freeways, one of the world’s busiest bridges, and transcontinental rail lines with service to Seattle, Los Angeles, and Chicago makes it a highly desirable place to live, work, and shop, while the Emery Unified School District (EUSD) has been a client of TPA’s for over five years and has a total enrollment of about 800 students per school year. EUSD is made up of two schools, Anna Yates Elementary (K-7) and Emery Secondary School (8-12).

EUSD and the City of Emeryville are developing a joint occupancy project that will be the first of its kind in California, called the Emeryville Center for Community Life (ECCL). ECCL will be a full service community school, providing not only K-12 public education, but also a full range of City services to the residents of Emeryville. Emeryville Superintendent Debbra Lindo spoke about the challenges EUSD and City have faced in the ten year development of this project and made suggestions as to why and how policy changes should be made to promote projects such as ECCL. TPA appreciates Senator Liu’s leadership with community schools, and looks forward to working with her on this important policy issue.

North Orange County Community College District Wins National Award

Townsend Public Affairs is proud to congratulate our client, North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD) and its School of Continuing Education, for winning the Silver Medallion of Achievement for a Government Relations Project at the 2013 National Council for Marketing and Public Relations District 6 Conference in Tempe, Arizona. The winning campaign was a joint effort of Townsend Public Affairs, NOCCCD, and the School of Continuing Education, which educated state legislators about the negative impact that the Governor’s Budget proposal and Senate Bill 173 would have to the California community college system’s noncredit education funding structure and commitment to access. A lobbying coalition of like-minded organizations and agencies, as well as Members of the Senate and Assembly Education Committees, Budget Committees, and the Department of Finance successfully amended the proposal and held Senate Bill 173 as a two-year bill to allow more time to work on the policy issues for community college districts.

City of Carson Pension Reform Legislation Retires Into Law

Through the efforts of Townsend Public Affairs, Governor Brown recently signed AB 1144 (Hall), a bill that established public employee benefit rights into law for the City of Carson.

Townsend Public Affairs worked very closely with Assemblymember Hall to address the lack of a post-retirement medical program vesting schedule in the City of Carson and eliminate a potentially harmful ambiguous provision in the City’s retirement benefit package. The provision allowed new hires with vested California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) pensions to retire from the City of Carson with as little as just one-day of service and still qualify for Carson’s employer paid post-retirement medical benefit. This previously created an unfunded liability, which is currently projected at $48 million dollars.

AB 1144 amended the provision so that the percentage of employer contribution payable for post retirement health benefits for an employee of the City of Carson is to be based on the employee’s completed years of credited service. The percentage of employer contribution increases incrementally after five years.

Collaboration between Assemblymember Hall, CalPERS, and committee staff was crucial to the success of this legislation. Townsend Public Affairs played a guiding hand in strategically crafting the legislation and shepherded it through the legislative process.